GRA attempted to bypass High Court process with move to seize luxury vehicles from the Mohameds

Apr 07, 2025 News

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Kaieteur News- When officers attached to the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) moved to seize vehicles owned by prominent businessman Azruddin Mohamed and his sister, Hana on Saturday last, their actions were seen as nothing but a brazen attempt to circumvent or bypass the legal proceedings of a matter already filed before High Court, legal sources have said.

The GRA had written to the Mohameds claiming that it has “irrefutable evidence” of tax breaches and the family’s evasion of payments of nearly $900 million worth in duties on luxury vehicles; a 2020 Ferrari, a 2023 Land Rover Range Rover, a 2023 Rolls Royce, a 2020 Lamborghini Roadster, and two 2021 Toyota Land Cruisers, some nearly five years after they arrived in Guyana.

The GRA is claiming that for the 2020 Ferrari PAD 5000 in the name of Hana Mohamed, there are additional taxes of $479,743, 489 for breach of the re-migrant requirements, for 2023 Land Rover Range Rover PAC 9000 in the name of Leslie Khan, there are additional taxes of $61,485,982 for breach of the re-migrant requirements; the 2023 Rolls Royce PAE 5000 in the name of Bibi Mohamed, additional taxes of $320,064,246 are owed  for breach of the re-migrant requirements; for the 2020 Lamborghini Roadster PZZ 4000 titled to Azruddin Mohamed, additional taxes of $371,775,168 for false declaration of value; for a 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser PAB 4000 titled to Azruddin Mohamed, additional taxes of $24,641,272 are owed for false declaration of value and for a 2021 Toyota Land Cruiser PAB 3000 titled to Azruddin Mohamed, additional taxes of $24,641,272 are owed for false declaration of value.

Officials of the revenue authority and law enforcement officers who moved to seize the high-end vehicles on Saturday engaged in an intense stand-off with supporters of the businessman and were later served with an injunction from the High Court that blocked them from seizing the cars.

According to documents seen by Kaieteur News, prior to this, the applications were filed in the High Court seeking injunctions and a number orders to prevent GRA from moving against the family.

As a result, officials of the GRA given it is a public decision maker in keeping with the Judicial Review Act were ‘duty bound,’ to preserve the status quo of the legal process filed before the High Court until the hearing and determination of the matter, a top legal officer told this newspaper.

Added to this, Kaieteur News understands that from the time the GRA notified the Mohameds of their alleged infractions, their lawyer, Siand Dhurjon responded in writing to the authority asking their legal department to provide justification or reasons for their action.

The document pointed out that given its status as a public authority, the GRA is ‘duty bound’ to reply or give reasons or the evidence for their action in keeping with the stipulations of the Judicial Review Act.

However, the GRA failed to provide the justification/reasons for their action.

As a result, applications were filed in the High Court to quash the decision of the GRA to take action against the Mohameds for the alleged unpaid duties.

The applications filed on April 2, 2025 seek to quash both GRA’s assessment for the taxes, the revocation of Hana’s exemption as a remigrant and any attempt to seize the cars.

At the time of the filing, injunctions were also sought preventing any seizure of the vehicles. According to emails seen by this publication, letters were sent notifying the chain of command of GRA that the legal proceedings were filed.

The letter essentially notified the revenue authority that the lawyers were now waiting on dates for the matter to be heard and therefore, they should not move on any seizure and or forfeiture of vehicles given the proceedings.

In an email response, a lawyer from the GRA noted that an application for an injunction is not an injunction and therefore the Mohameds had until the end of last Friday afternoon to bring in the cars, failing which, the authority will commence the process of seizure/forfeiture of the vehicles.

Kaieteur News understands that while the Mohameds had not yet secured the injunction, the GRA, as a public decision maker, still is duty bound to preserve the status quo of the legal matter until the High Court makes a decision and that any move to seize the vehicles would prevent any meaningful intervention on the courts.

As a result of the GRA’s actions, this triggered and expedited the hearing for an injunction. High Court Justice Gino Persaud via a virtual hearing on Saturday afternoon granted a temporary injunction against the revenue authority and ordered that the agency preserve the status quo of the matter until the full hearing and determination of the proceedings.

According to documents seen by this publication, the order restrains the GRA from taking any steps to seize the vehicles. The Judge also ordered them to respond the application for injunction on or before Tuesday. The GRA is required justify their actions to seize the vehicle.

Additionally, all parties are set to return to court on Friday at 09:30hrs for arguments and considerations of the matter.

High drama

It was high drama on Saturday morning when agents of GRA and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) shows up at the Mohameds property to seize the vehicles. They were halted after supporters of Team Mohameds surrounded his premises in protest.

The authorities’ attempt to seize the vehicles sparked public outcry, with protestors voicing deep frustrations over perceived injustices against the Mohamed family, who moved to the court to challenge the GRA.

“Stop fighting the man down… why y’all fighting he down, he looking out for poor people, y’all low he,” one supporter shouted.

Another protester said, “Sugar raising, rice raising, oil raising… when rice gon drop, sometimes some children don’t even eat nothing and go to school and get black out.”

Some directed their anger at multinational corporations, stating, “ExxonMobil, they have to go and harass… they taking all the money, they ain’t doing nothing. ExxonMobil, they have to go to.”

Others shouted, “We want a change. We need a change; we want a better system, for Guyana… A better system, a better tomorrow for the ghetto youths, right now we punishing dawg, we punishing.”

For his part, Azruddin said that the entire matter is politically driven, tied to fears that he may run for office at the upcoming elections.

“They said they come to seize the vehicles, so I don’t know all of a sudden you come to seize the vehicles. They should have seized the first day, they arrived in the country,” Mohamed said.

He disclosed that he will be making public statements in the near future to show that officials of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) government were aware of the vehicles even before they were imported.

“Very soon, I have a lot of things that I will put in the public on who instructed the release of these vehicles it came from high up when the vehicles arrived in this country,” he said.

(A scene from the standoff between Mohameds and the GRA on Saturday)

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